This is the second week
of negotiations among 195 countries
meeting in Warsaw, Poland,
for the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change.
Since 1994 when it was established,
the participating countries
have met regularly
to take actions to

stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human induced) interference with the climate system. {The Convention} states that such a level should be achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.

195 countries — almost all the UN members —
have ratified the Kyoto Protocal.
The United States has not.
Today,
as the Convention enters
its final week of meetings,
I am joining many others
who are fasting and praying
this week
in “sacrifice and solidarity.”
I do so
in the fervent hope
that industrialized countries
take the lead
in reducing carbon emissions.
And I do so,
as do many others,
in solidarity with thousands of people in the Phillipines
who are homeless and hungry and thirsty —
just as climate scientists have predicted —
because of changes in our climate
due to global warming;
this time, the world’s largest typhoon
on land.